No Boundaries
by Gia2204
Summary: Julianne Middleton used to play for Gryffindor Quidditch team. Until Oliver Wood kicked her out. Now he's a dead man walking.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Smoke the Future Away**

"Let's go people, c'mon, let's go!" Oliver Wood bellowed as the players landed around him, dismounting their brooms.

"Come on, Middleton, I'm not waiting for you!" He looked up at a one person that was still circling around on her broomstick. She rolled her eyes, for a moment thinking about what would happen if she just flew right into him and knocked him on the ground, but she gave up that idea, before landing with a loud thump on the grass.

"Okay, everyone, go back to your dormitories, get a good night sleep and meet me tomorrow at 4.30 right here." The rain was slowly started to drizzle, and Julianne cursed under her breath. It was probably going to rain tomorrow too, she thought as she carried her broom towards the locker rooms, feeling the tiny droplets of rain hit her skin. And he will probably make them run like crazy and practice when raining. Of course, that was completely normal for Wood. He was so obsessed with Quidditch that nothing could stop him from playing. She was okay with that, as long as he didn't make them do it too. But he did.

Deciding she didn't want to go under the shower yet, she changed the direction, heading for the bleachers. As she reached her destination, she fiddled with something in the left pocket of her robes, before triumphantly pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She lit up one, deeply inhaling the smoke mixed with fresh, chilly air and enjoying the feeling of the smoke in her lungs after what turned out to be extremely hard practice. Her legs and arms ached, but she just laid on the bench, smoking, letting the rain clear her head and her thoughts. That was her secret, her addiction, the only outlet she had from all of her troubles.

Soon her hair was dripping wet from the rain, but she felt at peace, forgetting all of her worries, even piles and piles of homework from Transfiguration and Potions that was lying on her bed right now, waiting to be done. She was tired, but satisfied, like every time after a Quidditch practice. She lit up another one of her fags and smiled at the cloudy sky. It was beautiful, and for the first time in the few exhausting months, she felt good.

At least until she heard a familiar deep voice behind her.

"Middleton! What are you doing here?"

"Noth--" She jumped into a sitting position, startled, a half-burnt cigarette still in her hand.

"Smoking? You are smoking?? The game against Slytherins is just a month away, and I come here to find you laying on a sodding bench and smoking?!? You have gone completely mental!!"

Oliver Wood, drenched in rain was standing beside her and shouting. His eyes were lit up with rage, but Julianne just took another puff from her cigarette.

"Okay, calm down. Here, I will put it out." She threw the cigarette bud on the ground, and it landed in a puddle of water that was slowly expanding now that the rain was falling harder.

"That's it, Middleton. You will come tomorrow at 3.30 in the morning, and do some extra work for this. Consider this a mild punishment. If I see you smoking one more time, you're out of the team. Good night, Middleton."

For a moment, she just sat there, petrified, staring at his back as he walked away. Three-sodding-thirty in the morning? That means, she thought as she glanced at her watch quickly, that she had only three hours left for sleep. Picking up her broom angrily, she headed for the castle, cursing Oliver Wood under her breath. That bloody bastard, how could he do something like that to her, all because of one cigarette? And threaten with throwing her out of the team? Her feet stomped madly through the mud as she approached the castle.

She dried herself up with a hot air from her wand, and headed for the Gryffindor tower. As soon as she entered the empty common room, she threw herself carelessly into a big fluffy armchair closest to the fireplace. Taken off by the warmth of the fire, she slowly fell asleep.

"Oi! Rise and shine, Middleton! You've got some work to do..."

Julianne just shifted uncomfortably, trying to ignore the annoyingly familiar voice in her dream.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" The voice repeated, and she landed on a floor with a loud thump, waking up suddenly. She rubbed her eyes and looked up, facing a grinning Oliver Wood who was standing over her.

"Sod off, Wood! Bloody hell, I was sleeping! What do you want from me?" She arose from the floor, yawning, sleepy and confused from sudden awakening.

"First, I want to see what you've got in your pockets." He was standing in front of her, a cold and cruel look on his face.

"No. I've got some... Er... Private stuff there. Nothing for you to see."

"I'll be the judge of that. _Accio!_" Julianne cursed loudly as the pack of cigarettes, a lighter and some chewing gum came flying out of her robe pockets, and right into his hand.

"You will not be getting this back." He waved the cigarette pack at her.

"And extra running for not throwing that out last night and telling me to sod off. Now come on."

Grabbing her broomstick, she followed him through the portrait hole and down the stairs, towards the playground. As she assumed, it was raining heavily, and she thought she could just murder him right there, and hide his body under the bleachers.

"Okay. Running- half an hour. And whenever I whistle, you quicken the pace until I say different. Understood?" He shouted, his voice somewhat silenced by rain.

She muttered something that extremely resembled "Sod off, you big Quidditch idiot.", but obviously he didn't hear, so she just started running. After fifteen minutes and seven whistles, she was dripping wet and out of breath, not to mention she was now seriously contemplating killing him, just couldn't think of the way. Poisoning him? Maybe. If she did that ruddy Potions homework, maybe she'd know how to make a decent poison, she thought as she hastened her pace after one more whistle. She could just feel his eyes on her, and see that smirk on his face, and it was making her absolutely furious. If he really thought this was going to stop her from smoking, he needed to think again. She had about fifteen packs more up in her drawer in the girls dormitories, and if she ever runs out, she could always buy more in Hogsmeade.

"You can slow down now!" He shouted, but she ignored his obnoxious deep voice, keeping the same speed, just to defy him. A sharp pain was piercing her lungs now, and she knew that were consequences of smoking, but she didn't want to stop, didn't want to give up, because that would make him right, and he definitely wasn't right punishing her for one cigarette.

"Stop! Oi!" She did stop, not because he said so, but just because she couldn't run more. Her legs ached like hell, and she thought she was going to fall asleep as she approached him.

"On the ground. Fifty push-ups." Wood said in an extremely cold voice. Julianne shot him an evil glare, but quietly obeyed. Twenty push-ups later, mud was all over her robes, hair and face, but she kept on going, until she felt a hard pressure on her back and spread-eagled in the mud. Hissing loudly, she realized that it was Wood's foot that was pushing her down.

"What the-"

"It's lame, Middleton. You can't even make twenty-five decent push-ups. You are lame. I can hear you wheezing, you can't breathe properly. Smoking, eh? A smoker. In my team." A rage started boiling inside her mind, and she immediately knew what to do. She arose swiftly from the ground, making him lose his balance and fall flat on his backside in the mud.

"Sod off! Do you really think you can talk to me this way? Can't you treat me with a little respect? I deserved it! You know what, Oliver Wood, I'm not putting up with this hell anymore. Watch this." She pulled out a cigarette she managed to save from him, and lit it up with a tap of her wand. Inhaling the smoke, she stared straight in his eyes, feeling weird satisfaction as his face turned darker and darker with anger. She blew the smoke right in his face, making him cough, but he grabbed her arm as she brought the cigarette to her lips again.

"You did it yourself, Middleton. You can go now, you're out of the team." His grip on her forearm clenched, and she winced in pain.

"I don't want to see you here ever again." He said.

"Good. I don't want to see you either. And I hope you rot in hell!!!" Throwing the half-burnt fag at him, Julianne picked up her broomstick and mounted it, not sure where she was heading. She wanted to clear up her mind, to arrange her thoughts, but it was impossible. The rain mixed with tears was blurring her vision, and the wind whipping her face, making it hard for her to even concentrate on flying straight. Flying over the Forbidden forest, she thought about Quidditch. She had been in a team since she was in her second year, and it was perfect before Wood became the captain. Eventually, all of them got used to his obsessed leadership, but this year, he was absolutely unbearable. What he did to her was pure humiliation, torture. She was willing to do two hundred push-ups if he ordered it, but she was not willing to let him literally run over her.

She decided to return to the castle, because the rain was turning into a real thunderstorm, and she had enough time to at least try to finish some of her homework now that she didn't have to go to practice. How she was going to live without Quidditch, she still hasn't figured out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Is This the End?**

Julianne didn't finish any of her homeworks. In fact, the pile was getting bigger and bigger, and she just ignored it, dedicating all of her time to chain-smoking and drinking when she had an opportunity. She even became rude to her friends and ex-team mates, answering to all of their questions about her missing the practices with "Sod off. Ask Wood.". Nobody really wanted to talk to her anymore, because her mood was terrible, and when Katie Bell tried to cheer her up, she ended up crying after Julianne called her "a mental little tart".

"All right. I will divide you into pairs, and you will write an essay about human transfiguration. Yes, miss Ellis, right now. I see you are alone, miss Middleton. Mr. Wood, come sit over here." Professor McGonagall pointed at the empty seat next to Julianne, making her groan loudly and roll her eyes.

"Silence, miss Middleton." Her brow raised at Julianne's reaction.

Oliver Wood threw his books on the right side of her desk, and she moved further to the left, just to get away from him. The smell of his aftershave was too aggressive, just like him, she thought.

"So... What are we going to do?" He asked, looking at her, but she just looked away coldly, ignoring him.

"You just continue with giving me the silent treatment. I'm going to tell McGonagall that you didn't want to do any work."

He was acting like a child, she thought. And she really, really wanted to just knee him in the groin and leave him wailing in pain on the Transfiguration classroom floor.

She spent the rest of the class scribbling nonsense on a piece of parchment with visibly annoyed Wood glaring at her and trying to write the essay all by himself with no success at all.

As soon as the bell rang, she picked up her bag and ran out of the classroom, stopping only to take a quick glance at McGonagall who was having a conversation with Wood, who was obviously trying to explain something, pointing at Julianne.

She ran up to the common room that was, thank Merlin, empty because everyone was in Great Hall for lunch, and lit up a fag, before throwing her bag on the floor carelessly and sitting down in an armchair. Giving Wood the silent treatment didn't make her feel better. It will not get her back on the team, and she knew it. Pulling a bottle of Firewhiskey from her bag, she thought how much she missed it. It was almost a week from their fight, and even though she hated Wood, she missed the practices and the other players, even if she was blatantly rude to them in the last few days. They didn't understand, but it was her defensive mechanism. If she talked to them, she would probably break down and start crying, remembering the great times they had as a team, she thought as she took another sip from now half-empty bottle.

Finishing the bottle and opening a new cigarette pack, she felt a bit light-headed, so she laid down, hoping she would sober up a little before Herbology, when she heard the voices behind her.

"I've seen you fly, you're pretty good." A deep, unusually familiar voice said.

"Yes, I know... But stop it!" A female voice giggled.

"So... We need a chaser, and I'm thinking about taking you..." He laughed, and the girl giggled again.

"In what way? Doesn't matter, I'll do it anyway." Another giggle, and Julianne rolled her eyes so hard she felt they could fall out of her head.

"Lucy, you've got the place in team. And we'll see about the other stuff later." Laugh and giggle.

Julianne almost screamed when she heard that name, but her own palm against her lips stopped her. Lucy? Sodding Lucy Babcock? The tartiest, most snobbish little bleached tart in the whole world? The one who didn't know how to mount a broom properly? Bloody hell, she thought. Something inside of her broke, and she arose from the chair with a cigarette in her hand, and ran past surprised Wood and Lucy out the portrait hole, tears starting to slide down her cheeks. It was too much. This was all too much. She sat on the floor, her back flat against cold stone wall, and just cried, feeling empty and somehow betrayed. Never in her life would she thought that Oliver Wood's rejection would hurt so badly, but it did. Not just that, but it seemed like everything had piled up. She was failing most of her classes, nobody wanted to talk to her anymore because of her constant mood swings, and this whole Quidditch stuff... She hoped to play after she finished school. And she gave everything she had to that sport. Five years of her sodding life. To be rejected for smoking that didn't even interfere with her playing. Her future was now destroyed.

"No, Julianne Middleton. No." She took a deep breath.

"Crying is for weaklings. You are a big girl. Shit happens, remember? You just have to get up and keep going. Try again. You can't just give up. Come on. It's not over, not yet." She said loudly, wiping the tears from her pale face and raising from her spot beneath the window.

"Talking to yourself? Finally gone mental, eh, Middleton?" Oliver Wood just exited the common room, with a huge grin spread over his face.

She didn't know how it happened, but her clenched fist just connected with his jaw in a swift motion, and he looked her in the eyes surprised, rubbing the sore, red spot on his face.

"If you don't know why I did this, you're a bloody idiot." She said in an extremely cold voice.

"Why? Maybe I am an idiot, but I don't know why you did it. Is it because you're frustrated for being kicked out of the team? It's your fault entirely. I told you that would happen if you don't quit with that lungs-destroying shit, but no, you defied me. You did it all yourself." His voice raised, and his usually nice features sharpened, making him look like a madman.

"No! It's not my ruddy fault! I am a smoker since I was 13 years old and it has never interfered with my playing! Bloody hell, Wood! I am not stupid or mental, I know you just wanted to find a reason to kick me out so you could give my place to your tarty girlfriend Lucy Babcock! Go to hell." She felt it again, tears building up in her eyes, threatening to spill every moment.

"Not only are you mental and stupid, you're paranoid too. Lucy Babcock is far better player than you and that's why she's in the team. And she's not my girlfriend. Listen, you immature, stubborn tart, if you're not as fit as she is, that's no reason to be jealous of her."

That was it. Her fist, this time the right one, collided with his jaw once more, but in one quick motion, he grabbed her wrists and pinned her against the wall.

"Shove off!" She tried to knee him in the groin but he dodged it, pinning her with his whole, muscular body even harder against the cold wall.

"Will you stop hitting me?"

"No, I won't! You destroyed my future! You took away the only thing I love, and no, I will not stop hitting you until you're dead!" She screamed into his face that was mere inches away from hers.

"You're drunk." He let go of her wrists, her arms falling to her sides.

"Skip Herbology and get sober, McGonagall wants to see you in her office after the class. I will think of some excuse for you. Go now. We will talk later, when you're sober and thinking straight." He sent her off, and she actually obeyed, automatically climbing through the portrait hole and up the stairs, throwing open the door of girls dormitory. Jumping over piles of clothes, magazines and books on the floor, she approached her bed, with one swift movement of her hand throwing books and parchment on the wooden floor.

Picking up some of the clean clothes from her bed, she headed for the bathroom, staggering a little, but managing to stay on her feet. She peeled off her clothes from her body, and gratefully stepped into the shower, letting the hot water clear her head and thoughts. Wood had really been acting odd in the hallway. She really expected him to hit her back after she punched him, but he didn't. In the end, he was even kind of nice to her, she thought as she shampooed her hair. And why the hell did McGonagall want to see her? Probably because of that essay.

She stepped out of the shower, feeling much better and somewhat relieved, and wrapped a fluffy towel around her body, throwing herself on her bed. She laid there for fifteen minutes, with a fag in her hand and staring at the ceiling, letting her mind float freely, waiting for the bell to ring. She was definitely sober now, and she arose, putting some clean clothes in, and drying her hair, before heading down the stairs.

Common room was full of third and sixth-year students, Lucy Babcock the loudest of them, and Julianne threw her an evil glare as she exited.

Climbing a few flights of stairs, she felt a sharp pang in her lungs from smoking, and slowed down, catching her breath in front of McGonagall's office, before knocking politely.

"Come in, miss Middleton." A voice replied from inside.

"Sit down." Professor McGonagall was sitting at her desk, and pointed at a chair right across her.

"You needed to see me, Professor." Julianne said in a calm, slightly cold voice.

"Yes. Mr. Wood has informed me that you are no longer in the Quidditch team. And since you're failing most of your classes, the Teacher's Council has discussed about you a lot in the last few meetings."

Teacher's Council? What the bloody hell? Does that even exist? Julianne thought as she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. That definitely cannot be good.

"Never in the history of our school have we had such a student. Miss Middleton, you and I know that you are brilliant. But Gryffindor or any other house, for that matter, will not tolerate your laziness, class-skipping andyour kind of behaviour. "

"And you know what I mean by that. Smoking, drinking and disrespect cannot be tolerated from you anymore."

"We are giving you a chance here. You have two weeks to get back on the team and pass all of your classes. In the contrary, you are going to be sent home."

"Expe-" Julianne's voice broke, and her eyes widened.

"Yes, miss Middleton. Expelled."

"But Professor-"

"No buts, miss Middleton. You are free to go now." McGonagall's voice remained icy cold, and Julianne could feel her eyes following her as she walked out slowly from her office.

She ran up to the closest girl's bathroom, and lit up a fag, sliding on the cold floor once again today. How the hell would she get back on the team again now that Lucy Babcock had her position? And there is no ruddy way that she's going to plead Wood to take her back. Bloody Wood. He probably ratted on her to McGonagall. That's what happens when you dedicate yourself completely to just one thing, she thought. And then it all falls apart. She should have been studying, doing homeworks and not skipping classes. Now she's going to be sent home. She really didn't want that, because Hogwarts was her real home, and she didn't want to go back to her father and step-mum. They always drove her absolutely mental with their rules, prohibitions and ranting about how she had to marry a pureblood wizard.

"I'm thick. Thick, thick, thick." She kept saying as she bashed her head against the wall.


End file.
